i live for these quiet mornings
by eternitysky
Summary: There is a long silence as Hikari and Takeru exchange nervous glances, and then look back at the two men across from them. /"Well, this is awkward," says Hikari. /"We thought you two were already dating," Takeru, mercifully, finishes for his girlfriend.


Arg. I'm so weak. I couldn't resist writing this.

This work is dedicated to llyn, who is the best travel companion to have through this desert of a fandom. I'm hoping Tri. will be the oasis that we're searching for.

Takes place almost directly after 'maybe we'll wake up somewhere else', though this story can be understood without it.

* * *

Taichi wakes up to the sound of the doorbell. He rolls to the side to untangle himself from the warm weight on his chest.

"Hey, Yama," he mumbles, shaking the man beside him gently. Yamato just grumbles and buries his face deeper into a pillow in attempt to block out the morning light and the noises assaulting his ears.

The room is littered with pizza boxes, beer cans and rolling papers, along with a few scattered condom wrappers: evidence of their weekend of debauchery. Years of built up sexual tension needed to find some release after their first kiss on Thursday night.

The ringing of the doorbell doesn't stop, so Taichi slowly lifts himself out of bed and finds a pair of underwear discarded on the floor. He throws a t-shirt on as an afterthought so he's not practically naked when he greets whoever insists on rousing him from his slumber at such an ungodly hour. What time is it anyway?

Oh.

The clock on Yamato's wall informs him that it's already one in the afternoon.

He wanders towards the entrance and fastens one eye on the peephole to see his sister and Takeru standing on the other side of the door. Taichi's stomach jumps with panic and he immediately backs away, hitting the kitchen counter in the process.

To his utter terror, he hears the sound of keys jingling in the lock before the doorknob turns slowly. Taichi feels distinctly like he's in some sort of horror movie and his doom waits on the other side of that door. Now all they need is some eerie soundtrack.

The door finally opens, and in walk Hikari and Takeru. They blink at Taichi. Taichi stays frozen against the kitchen counter and blinks back, unsure of what to say.

"Tai! Why didn't you answer the door?" his sister says, seeming completely unfazed by his state of undress in Yamato's kitchen.

"Um," he manages.

"Neither of you were answering your phones and we were ringing that doorbell for like ten minutes. We thought you two were dead or something," Takeru pipes in.

Taichi can do nothing other than stand there and blink at the two people in front of him, like a deer caught in the headlights.

After a moment's pause, Hikari raises an eyebrow. "Tacihi, did you guys forget that we have plans to hang out today?"

Taichi blinks and looks over to the calendar hanging on the wall. It's Monday of their long weekend.

"Shit. Yea, I totally forgot."

Hikari crosses her arms over her chest and rolls her eyes. Takeru sighs and rubs at the back of his neck in exasperation. The sigh tells of years and years of being the responsible sibling. "I assume my brother is still dead to the world," Takeru says, motioning with his chin to Yamato's room, where the door is slightly ajar.

"Err… yea," Taichi says, looking at the door nervously, worried that they'll be able to glean on the events that occurred in that room for the past three days from its utter disarray and the complete state of undress of the older blond currently dosing in his bed. "I'll go wake him."

Taichi scampers off to Yamato's room and slams the door shut, tripping over a pair of pants on his way to the bed.

"Hey, Yama," he whispers with urgency, shaking at the blond's shoulder.

Yamato just grumbles.

"Yamato!" He shakes the pale shoulder with more violence until Yamato's eyebrows furrow and blue eyes open to glare at the man in front of him.

"What?" he growls.

"Your brother and Hikari are here. We made plans to hang out with them today. Apparently."

Those blue eyes widen immediately and he sits up quickly, bumping Taichi's forehead along the way with his own. "Fuck, I forgot," he says, rubbing at his brow.

"Yea, well," Taichi says, rubbing at his own forehead in attempt to ease the pain. "They're out there right now waiting for us."

Yamato sighs and rubs at his eyelids. "I'll go take a shower," he says, pushing the blankets from his body and moving to stand. He stops when he gets a second look at his best friend and then, after a pause, raises his eyebrows. "Taichi," he deadpans, "why are you wearing my boxers?"

Taichi looks down at his own body, noticing for the first time how said boxers don't fit quite right and how the star pattern all over them is not at all familiar. "Oh." And then he smirks at the blond. "Kind of hot."

Yamato scrunches his nose. "Ew. That's gross, those aren't clean." Taichi just wiggles his eyebrows and moves his hips in little circles. Yamato snorts. "Okay, I'm gonna go take a shower. You should take one too, afterwards." As the blond finally manages to stand, Taichi can't help but stare at Yamato's naked form. He's still getting used to this. He also can't help but wrap his arms around Yamato's waist and kiss him gently on the lips.

The kiss turns a little less gentle and Taichi's hands move down to grope at Yamato's bare ass. Yamato groans into his mouth.

Taichi can feel the arousal stirring in his belly and reluctantly pulls away. "We probably shouldn't," he breathes against Yamato's lips.

Yamato growls. "You monster," he murmurs before pulling away with effort, wrapping a towel around his waist and going to the bathroom. He makes a groggy greeting to their siblings waiting on the couch.

Taichi stays in Yamato's room and tries to calm down. It wouldn't do to entertain Hikari and Takeru with a raging hard-on in too-snug boxers. To distract himself, he starts trying to clean up the room a bit, putting empty pizza boxes and beer cans in the corner, discarding of the condom wrappers in the trash and making the bed.

Yamato comes back not long after, all wet from the shower and Taichi has to fight the urge to remove that towel from Yamato's hips and take him directly back to bed.

The blond throws a clean towel in his direction. "Your turn," he says and starts drying off.

Taichi showers quickly, trying hard (and thankfully succeeding) at not jacking off in the bathroom. When he comes back to Yamato's room, the blond is just putting his clothes on.

"I know I have a bunch of your clothing in here somewhere," Yamato says as he pulls a shirt over his head. "So feel free to look."

Sure enough, there are about five of Taichi's shirts and a couple of pairs of pants in Yamato's closet. He borrows a clean pair of boxers from Yamato.

"We should tell them, shouldn't we?" Taichi says when he's fully dressed in slightly mismatched clothing.

Yamato sighs as he grabs his wallet and puts it in his back pocket. "Yea I guess. We've been acting fucking weird the entire morning, anyway. They're probably wondering what's going on."

"It's actually already one," Taichi retorts.

Yamato snorts. "Oh, god. I feel like I'm nineteen again."

Hikari and Takeru are completely immersed in conversation when Yamato and Taichi enter the living room. Taichi can't help but soften when he looks at his sister, a bright smile illuminating her features as she looks up at Takeru. He laughs as she makes a gesture with her hands, as if in imitation of something.

Taichi can admit to himself, in the privacy of his mind, that if anything makes Taichi believe in love, it's these two.

After Takeru's laugh dies down, Hikari looks over at the two of them and smiles. "Oh, you're finally ready!"

"Yea, good to go?" Yamato replies.

They go to a popular restaurant that Hikari says she's wanted to try for ages.

They shuffle into a cozy booth and after the waiter takes their order, the four of them sit in silence for a minute.

"So," Taichi starts awkwardly, always the leader.

"So," Hikari mirrors.

"I think it's important for you guys to know," Taichi says, trying hard not to stumble over his words, "that Yamato and I are dating."

Yamato groans, putting a hand over his face. "Very smooth, Tai," he says, "not like a freight train at all."

Taichi continues despite the interruption. "I know it may come as a bit of a shock, or may seem really strange, but I don't want you guys to worry because this won't change anything. Both of us are here if you need to talk to us about it." He emphasizes that last point by patting Yamato's shoulder.

There is a long silence as Hikari and Takeru exchange nervous glances, and then look back at the two men across from them.

"Well, this is awkward," says Hikari.

"What?" Taichi asks, quirking an eyebrow

"Well…" Hikari starts again, but looks over at Takeru for assistance.

"We thought you two were already dating," Takeru, mercifully, finishes for his girlfriend.

Taichi and Yamato stare at their siblings, unblinking.

"Wait, what?" Yamato manages.

"Well, yea," Takeru responds, shrugging. "But I guess if that wasn't the case, congratulations!"

Through his shock, Taichi supposes it makes sense now how neither Takeru nor Hikari were fazed by Taichi's complete state of undress in Yamato's apartment on a Monday morning.

"Why did you guys think we were dating?" Yamato asks, clearly handling the complete turnaround in the situation much better than Taichi.

"Cause you guys act like a couple!" Takeru exclaims, shoulders hiking under his brother's gaze. "You spend more time with each other than with anyone else, you're always really touchy, you're super protective of each other. The sexual tension between you could be cut with a knife-"

"Okay, I think they get it," Hikari interrupts.

"Okay, so-" Taichi gulps and tries again, "so when did you guys even think we started dating?" he asks, in attempt to make sense of this, feeling the world move beneath his feet.

Hikari and Takeru exchange another glance, communicating in that silent way of theirs.

"I guess we thought you two hooked up sometime after Sora and Yamato broke up," Hikari fields.

"Everyone kind of thought that you and Sora broke up because of Taichi. And Sora wasn't really willing to talk about it, so…" Takeru says to his brother.

"What do you mean, 'everyone'?!" Taichi yelps, trying not to fall through the cracks of his shifting world.

Hikari frowns, crossing her arms at Taichi's exasperation. "Everyone thinks you're dating, not just the two of us."

"Well, fuck," Yamato murmurs, mirroring Hikari by crossing his arms over his chest. Yamato's calmness makes Taichi feel a bit unreasonable in his panic.

Then another thought hits him. "Wait." He turns to Takeru. "Does this mean all of those times that you said weird things to me about not hurting Yama you were trying to give me 'the talk'?"

Takeru's cheeks color. "Um. Yes."

"Wow, you weren't very good at it, were you?"

"Hey, shut up!"

**********FLASHBACK**********

"Taichi."

"What?"

"You better not hurt my brother."

"Huh? Why would I hurt Yamato?!"

"I mean it!" Takeru's voice waivers.

"Are you talking about the bite mark on his thigh? You don't need to worry, we were just roughhousing a bit!"

Takeru's cheeks color and he rubs at his face. "Um, I don't really need to know what you two get up to in your free time. But. I mean it. Just. Don't." Takeru's face twists in his effort.

"Again, don't worry about it honorary little brother. Besides, he's not made of glass. He won't break. What's a couple of bruises here and there? You should see the one I have on my-"

A yelp. "I don't need this level of detail, Taichi!"

**********END OF FLASHBACK**********

"Wow, yea, you were horrible at it," Taichi says.

"Ugh, you suck." Takeru mumbles.

Yamato bursts out laughing. "Oh my god, Takeru, were you trying to protect my honor?!" His breath is coming in wheezes now. "That's rich, oh, that's so rich."

"Shut _up_!" Takeru yells, face the color of a tomato, and throws a spoon at Yamato's head.

The older blond just keeps laughing, his forehead resting on the table for support. Taichi looks at him with concern. Yamato sounds a bit like he's struggling for air.

A very confused waiter comes to their table to deliver their orders and Yamato's laughter finally peters off, with a few stray cackles here and there. He lifts his head off the table and tries to compose himself. He tries to steady his breath and he lets go of his sides to wipe at the tears gathered at the corners of his eyes. When his breathing evens out, he takes two large gulps of water and clears his throat as if to tell his captive audience of three to move along.

Then Yamato stills and looks up at their younger siblings suspiciously. "Okay, wait. I just realized something." His eyes widen in horror. "So, when the four of us go out to do sibling bonding-type stuff, do you think those are…double dates?"

Hikari dabs a napkin to her lips after taking a sip of water. "Well, we thought we've been doing both. Kill two birds with one stone and all."

Yamato groans and puts his head in his hands. "Oh my god. I don't want to be going on double dates with my brother." He peeks between his fingers to look at Hikari and Takeru. "This whole double date thing is not weird at all for you?"

"We got over it pretty quickly," Takeru answers.

"I'm sure you guys will, too," Hikari says, leaning over the table to pat Yamato on the arm. "Hey, Yama," Hikari says then, voice sugar sweet. "Come get salt and pepper with me, there's none at this table." Her hand moves from his forearm to clasp his hand and then she drags him out of their booth, leaving Takeru alone with Taichi.

They are silent for a moment before Takeru breathes in, as if in preparation.

"Oh, no. You're gonna try to give me 'the talk' again, aren't you?"

Takeru scowls momentary and then his face sets in determination. Taichi is suddenly struck with how much Takeru and Yama look alike- sharp featured and very, very attractive. Takeru is a bit shorter and stockier, while Yamato, taking after his mother, is all long limbs and graceful lines.

"Look," Takeru starts, "I know my brother puts on a really brave face, but deep down, he freaks out and stresses out a lot, probably more than the average person, so I just want to make sure you take care of him."

Taichi puts up a hand to stop Takeru, exasperated at the younger boy for thinking Taichi needs to hear any of this. "Takeru, Yama has been my best friend since we were kids, and he's one of the most important people in the world to me. I know all these things about him."

"I know you know, Tai, but just let me say this." Taichi sighs, nods and lets Takeru continue. "He struggles with happiness sometimes and I can see that you awaken something in him that no one else does. I really do think if he's going to be happy with anyone, it's going to be with you." Takeru's eyes look down at the food in front of him. "So treasure that." Taichi nods in silence, heart warming a little at the words. "Also, I think Yamato has never really expected to be happy in a relationship. I think he feels that he's too much like our dad," he pauses for a breath and evaluates the confusion on the brunet's face before continuing. "Our dad, as you know, is passionate and driven, just like Yamato is, and he follows those passions at the expense of his family. I think my brother thinks he's doomed to the same fate: succeeding in career, but failing in love. Yama can't not go after his passions, after all.

But I don't think that our dad has been the best example for Yama and hasn't shown him that it's not an either-or situation. I think you know it doesn't have to be like that, but I think that the either-or mentality is really internalized in Yama. It's probably one of the reasons he shuts people out so much." Takeru shrugs. "So, if you choose to love him, make sure you love him fully for everything that he is, including the things he's so madly passionate about and everything that come along with it."

Taichi is surprised that he has never really known this about Yamato, despite all of their years together. Something falls into place in the eternal puzzle that his is best friend and love of his life.

"Thank you, Takeru," Taichi murmurs in utter sincerity.

Yamato and Hikari come back then, Hikari's lips stretched into a smile and Yamato's eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"You tried to give him a talk again, didn't you, Takeru?"

Takeru smiles slyly and changes the subject.

* * *

Taichi and Yamato get back to Yamato's apartment that night and plop down on his couch.

"Well, that was interesting," Yamato says.

"That's one way to describe it." Taichi sighs and rests his head on the blond's shoulder. "I probably need to head back to my apartment soon. I haven't been there in four days. Mold is probably growing on the dishes in the sink."

"Gross."

Taichi slides down to nuzzle his face into Yamato's belly. "Before I go," he murmurs, sliding his hands up Yamato's sides to push his shirt up and places gentle kisses around Yamato's navel. "D'you want to finish what we stared earlier?"

Yamato relaxes under Taichi's lips and slides his fingers into Taichi's mane. "You don't have to go at all."

"You have to go to the lab tomorrow and I have to continue studying for that exam." Taichi's lips move upwards until he is peppering kisses across Yamato's chest. "We're responsible adults, you know. We have to do responsible adult things."

Yamato hauls Taichi up by the arms and their lips meet in a kiss. Taichi swings one leg over Yamato to sit on his lap and pushes his hips downward. That warmth in his belly returns and he runs his thumbs over Yamato's collarbones.

He wants to be inside Yamato, he wants Yamato inside him, he wants to feel every bit of the blond's skin on his lips, he wants to draw breathy moans from that mouth, he wants to draw screams of pleasure, he wants to bite Yamato's neck, he wants to wrap his lips around his cock and suck him dry. He places a wet kiss to Yamato's jaw.

They've had fifteen years of friendship, and countless years of sexual tension, and so, three days of exploring each other's bodies is simply not enough. He wants to spend centuries in this apartment, until he knows every curve, every line, every crevice of the man before him. He wants to know the exact type of moan that will leave the blond's lips if he puts his mouth to a certain spot on his neck. He wants to memorize just how his eyes roll into the back of his head once he's overcome with pleasure.

He slides down off of Yamato's lap and positions himself on his knees between those long legs. For some reason, Taichi's mind keeps sliding to the conversation he had with Takeru earlier that afternoon.

Taichi unbuttons Yamato's jeans and gently pulls down the zipper. He pushes the jeans and underwear past pale, jutting hips to reveal Yamato's half-hard cock. Arousal colors Yamato's cheeks as he looks down at him with blown pupils. Taichi wraps his lips around the head and sucks gently.

Yamato's breath comes in a sharp gasp. Taichi takes one hand to the base of Yamato's cock while the other hand finds one of Yamato's and interlaces their fingers. He continues to lick and suck until Yamato's cock is fully hard and heavy against his tongue. Taichi looks up to meet Yamato's eyes starts bobbing his head up and down, never losing eye contact, hand gripping at Yamato's tightly. Yamato's other hand comes to rest in Taichi's hair.

Taichi's eyes stay on Yamato's and neither can look away, even as those blue eyes glaze over with pleasure and his breath comes in labored pants.

When he comes, Taichi coughs but swallows anyway. Yamato's eyes stay on him through it, fighting hard not to let them roll into the back of his head with the pleasure.

Taichi releases Yamato from his mouth and rubs his thumb into Yamato's hipbone before he moves up to sit beside the blond on the couch, lips moving to kiss his neck. Yamato's hands move down Taichi's body to undo the button on his pants but Taichi stops him.

"That was just for you, Yama."

"But I want to," Yamato half-whines and tries to move his hands to Taichi's pants once more.

Taichi stops them again. "I really just want to do this for you right now," he murmurs, placing another kiss on the blond's neck. "You'll have plenty of opportunity to have my dick in your mouth." Yamato snorts. "I love you, you know," Taichi says, after a pause.

"I love you, too, idiot."

"No, I mean I'm in love with you."

Yamato pulls away from Taichi sharply to look him in the eye. And then an illuminating smile breaks over his face. It's not the smile he gives when he's trying to flirt, or when he's trying to be a cocky asshole, or making a joke, or being polite but a real, real, real, genuine, vulnerable, amazing smile.

"Thank you," Yamato says, like he's just received the best present in the world and kisses Taichi gently.

Taichi moves his head into the crook of Yamato's neck and groans. "We need to be responsible adults now. Productive members of society."

"Mmm, I'm content to stay holed up in here and fuck like monkeys for the rest of our lives."

"Don't tempt me, Yama." Taichi gives Yamato's lips a hard kiss and then gets up from the couch, going into Yamato's room to collect his stuff.

It's only when he finally gets home to his quiet apartment (and finds out that mold has indeed started growing on the dishes in the sink) that his phone buzzes.

Taichi takes it out of his pocket and isn't too surprised to find Yamato's name lighting up his screen.

He reads the message. Warmth spreads through his body.

 _I'm in love with you, too._ It says.

* * *

END.

The exam Taichi has to study for is his Foreign Services Exam.  
I actually enjoy playing around with the professions in the 02 epilogue.

Why do all of my Digimon stories start with someone at the door and end with BJs for Yama?  
Who knows!

Also, do the titles have anything to do with the stories?  
Ha. Not really. I just like making random, uncapitalized sentences.


End file.
